74 Motorcycles seized by Lagos Taskforce officials which resulted in the protest by the Okada riders.
More than six persons, including a paramilitary officer attached to the Lagos State Task Force, were on Tuesday injured in a bloody clash between operatives of the task force and motorcyclists (okada riders) at 2nd Rainbow bus stop along the Oshodi – Apapa expressway.
Angry okada riders went on a rampage and blocked the expressway with bonfires which crippled vehicular movements into FESTAC and Mile 2 areas.
Tribune Online gathered that trouble started when operatives of the Task Force invaded 2nd Rainbow and started impounding motorcycles from riders who rode against traffic and others who plied the expressway and other restricted routes.
A resident of FESTAC, Achike told Tribune Online that “the policemen had seized more than sixty motorcycles when the riders mobilized and started throwing bottles, stones and irons at them.
“The police also shot to disperse the okada riders who were growing in numbers and trying to retrieve the impounded motorcycles from the policemen.”
The spokesperson of the Task Force, Adebayo Taofik confirmed the incident to Tribune Online, adding that the policemen acted on reports of robbery incidents in the area.
The Task Force spokesman said before “the operatives of the agency, based on series of complaints from the public about activities of these okada riders using their bikes to rob them of their valuables and those plying restricted routes, went out to the area for enforcement.
“After impounding about 74 okadas caught plying one-way and those operating on highway, Okada riders mobilised themselves and attacked officers of the agency.”
Taofik also stated that “they damaged, beyond repair, two of our vehicles with one of our trucks. A paramilitary officer attached to the agency (Ganiyu Mustapha) was wounded with broken bottles and cutlass because he mistakenly ran into the mob.”
He pointed out that “since the #EndSARS protest every motorist including okada riders operate with impunity thereby causing serious traffic gridlock across the state.”
The Lagos Task Force spokesman also said that: “We had a stakeholders’ meeting with their leaders and they made us understand that all those flagrantly disobeying the laws are not responsible to any associations in Lagos.
“We must all join hands together to salvage the state from the hands of these notorious criminals who use okada to perpetrate evil in the public,” Taofik advised.
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